Automatic stoker for locomotives.



A. J. McMULLEN. AUTOMATIC STOKEB. FOB LOCOMOTIVES.

APPLIOATION FILE'D ABBA 1911.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A.,J. MoMULLEN. AUTOMATIC BTOKEB ROB. LOCOMOTIVES.

APPLICATION FILED, APR. 6, 1911.

1,017,682. I Patented Feb.20, 1912.

2 sums-sum a.

UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

ALEXANDER J. HOHULLEN, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

AUTOMATIC S'I'OklEB FOB LOCOMOTIVES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER J. Mo- MUnLnN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and resident of Milwaukee,- in the county of Milwaukee and Stateof Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Stokers for Locomotives; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, economical andeffective automatic feeder and stoker for locomotive furnaces,

, its construction and arrangement being such that coal is dischargedfrom the tender into a crusher, where it is broken to a convenient sizeand thereafter delivered from said crusher by means of an endlessconveyer to a hopper disposed in juxtaposition to the furnace dooropening, through which hopper it is delivered to the grate by movementof a reciprocative stoker bottom.

With the above object in view the invention consists in what is hereinshown, described and claimed.

In the drawings Figure 1 represents. a longitudinal sectional elevationof the rear end of a. locomotive and forward end of a tender equippedwith an automatic stoker embodyin the features of my invention; Fig. 2,a ragmentary plan view of the same partly in section, as indicated byline 22 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3, a transverse sectional view of the stokerhep er mechanism, the section being indicated by line 33 of Fig. 2.

Referring by characters to the drawings,

. 1 represents a locomotive tender having the usual coal compartmentwhich is provided with a forwardly inclined bottom section 2 and anupwardly inclined hinged section 5. The hinged section 5 is providedwith a feed opening 3 that is controlled by a sliding door 4 throughwhich coal is delivered to a crusher housing to be hereinafterdescribed. The bottom section 5 is locked in its nor:

mal position by bolts 6 which engage the side walls of the tender andsaid bot-tom section is designed to be swung down in heretoforementioned is detached from the' elk-tender, whereby clearance is had toermit the hinged section 5 to drop to a horizontal Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application iiled April 6, 1911.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912. Serial No. 618,888.

position. The hinged section 5 of the compartment flares upwardly fromthe inclined bottom section thereof whereby a pocket is formed for thecoal and at the same time clearance at the front end of the tender andunder the door 4 is provided for the location of the crusher. Bythisarrangement the crusher can be placed under the forward end of thetender without appreciable waste of space.

Secured to the floor of the tender directly under the feed opening 3 isa crusher'housing 7 provided with an adjustable orushermember 8 and avibratory member'9, which member is actuated by a shaft 10 that isprovided with an eccentric 11, which eccentric, in conjunction with astrap, operates the vibratory member 9 by means of its engagement withtoggle links 12. The strap carried by the eccentric 11 depends therefromand is notched out for the reception of the opposite ends of the links12, the links being orizontally disposed. The outer ends of one of thelinks is fulcrumed to the side walls of the housing 7 and the outer endof the opposite link is hinged to the v1bratory crusher member 9. Thuswhen the high portion of the eccentric reaches a point opposite to thatat which it-is shown in Fig. 1 the said strap is lifted whereby theinner ends of the links rise and tend to straighten out causing aninward crushing movement of said member 9. When the toggle links arebuckled in the position shown in the drawing the distance between theirfulcrum points is shortened due to the weight of member 9, which weightbrings said member back to its normal position and opens the mouthbetween it and the fixed crusher member.

Journaled in the lower portion of the housing 7 is a shaft 13, whichshaft is driven from the crusher shaft 10 by a link belt and sprocketgear connected thereto. Trunnioned upon the shaft 13 is an elevatorframe 14 which projects upwardly with its discharge end terminatingwithin the cab ortion 15 of a locomotive, the said disc arge end beingprovided with an idle shaft 16 carrying sprocket wheels 17 that co-actwith similar sprocket-wheels 18 which are carried by the shaft 13.Mounted upon these sets of sprocket-wheels is an endless link beltconveyer chain 19 having suitable lugs 20. The discharge end of theconveyer frame 14 is loosely supported upon the fixed wall 21 of ahopper, which fixed wall is rigidly secured to a frame 22. The sidewalls 23 of the ho per are preferably in hinge connection with the frame22, being held in their upright position by downturned ends of adetachable strap 24. Mouth sections 23 of the hopper side walls arepreferably rigidly secured to the frame 22 and, as'shown, are adapted toproject-into the feed 0 eningl 25 of the locomotive fire-box 26, which'rebox is provided with the'usual grate. The frame 22 is provided with.ways 27 for the reception of rail extensions 27 of a reciprocat vebox-like bottom 28, the outer end of said bottom carrying a stoker-head29 which serves to level off the coal as it is delivered by thereciprocative movement of said bottom. The frame 22 is 'sup orted bysuitable legs 30 which are vertica y adjustable whereby the frame ma beraised or lowered so as to aline the eed bottom 28 with the furnace dooropening. The bottom is reciprocated through a link that is connectedwith a slotted lever 31, which lever is fulcrumed upon a stud carried byone of the frame legs 30. Fitted in the slot of the lever is a pin 32that projects from a crank disk 33, which crank disk is mounted upon ashaft 34, the shaft beingl journaled in suitable bearings carried by tframe leg. v

Motion is imparted to the shaft 34 through a sprocket-wheel 35 carriedthereby, which sprocket-wheel is in link belt connection with a sprocketwheel 35 mounted upon a motor-shaft 36, the motor being of any eadjacent suitable type and is preferably, as shown,

secured to the under side of the locomotive cab floor for convenienceand economy in space. When it is desired to remove the frame from itsautomatic stoking position relative to the feed door of the furnace thischain connection between the motor and shaft 34 cantbe readily detachedb uncoupling the link in sald chain. ower is transmitted to the crusherthrough a beveled pinion 36 that is secured to the shaft 34 and arrangedto mesh with a beveled wheel 37 carrled by one section 38 of atumbler-rod 38, the sections of the rod being coupled by a universaljoint 39, one member of which is provided with a sleeve that is intelescopic union witha squared end of the tumbler-rod 38. The tumblerrodsection 38 is journaled in a bracket 40 that is swiveled upon the end ofshaft 34, the opposite end of the tumbler-rod being journaled in asimilar bracket 40 that is swiveled upon an end of the crusher shaft 10,to which shaft motion is imparted by meshed beveled gear wheels 41, 41.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that power fromfthemotor to the crusher is transmitted through a flexible shaft connectionwhich is sectional whereby the connection between the tender andlocomotive may be broken when desued, in which case the elevator orconveyer is swung backward and attached in any suitable manner to thetender and the hopper mechanism can then be removed from its stokingposition. i

In some instances it isdesirable to have access to the furnace while thestoker is in operation and in order to conveniently obtain such access,as previously stated, the side walls of the hopper can be readily swungdownward for the purpose of inserting a hand tool, shovel or the likewithin the fire-box of the furnace. This can be readily accomplished bylifting the strap 24 which serves to hold the hinged wings in theirupright position.

While I have shown and described one specific driving gear for thevarious trave ing parts, it s ould be understood that this driving gearcan be varied in accordance with the design of any skilled mechanicwithout departing from the spirit of my invention and that for thecrusher shown a roller crusher may be substituted in some instances.

It is apparent from the foregoing scription that the automatic stokerwill deliver coal crushed to the desired sizes, and in quantitiesdesired, within the hopper, from which it is discharged over the grateby the reciprocating bottom and leveled by the stoker-head 29. Thestoker head acts to distribute and level the coal by assing back andforth over or throu h te coal which tends to pile up upon 51 egrateatthe feed door incidental to the discharge of said coal from the box-likehopper bottom 28 and thus the pile is constantly being topped anddistributed.

I claim:

1. In a locomotive having a furnace provided with a feed opening and adetachable coal-tender; the combination of a stoker in communicationwith the furnace feed opening, a forwardly and downwardly inclinedbottom section for the tender, and upwardly inclined bottom section inhinge connection with the first named bottom section, the forwardly andupwardly inclined bottom section being provided with a door-controlledfeed opening, a coal crusher detachably' secured 'to the tender undersaid upwardly inclined bottom section and in register with its feedopening, an endless coal feeding conveyer apron yieldably connecting thecrusher and stoker, a motor carried by the locomotive, an endless beltdrive gear connection between the motor and stoker, and a tumbler-rod inear connection with the stoker and crus er, whereby .the same is driven.

2. In a locomotive having a furnace proa forwardly vided with a feedopening and a' detachable coal-tender; the combination of a stoker incommunication with the furnace feed opening, a forwardly and downwardlyinclined bottom section for the tender, a

6 forwardly and upwardly inclined bottom mounted upon said shaft thefree endof Wisconsin in the the conveyer apron frame being arranged restupon the stoker, a motor carried by saidlocomotive, a motor and etc er,and a flexible gear connection between the stoke r and coal-crushinmechanism.

ear connection between; the

testimony that I claim the foregoin I have hereunto set my hand atMilwaukee in the county of Milwaukee and State of resence of twowitnesses. ALEXAN ER J. 'MGMULLEN.

Witnesses:

Geo. W. YOUNG, MAY DowNnY.

